We’ve all seen our Facebook and Twitter friends turn to the internet to vent their issues about work and colleagues. But when does it go too far? A recent employment tribunal decision showed that a long-serving employee was fairly dismissed after finding that he had written derogatory comments about both his employer and colleagues on his Twitter profile.
Creighton v Together Housing Association Ltd
Mr Creighton had been working for the housing association for nearly thirty years when, during an investigation into alleged bullying of a colleague, his employer looked at his Twitter profile. Three years previously, Mr Creighton had made a number of derogatory comments about his colleagues and his employer. In response, Mr Creighton was dismissed for gross misconduct over his tweets, although the initial bullying allegations were dismissed.
Mr Creighton argued that he thought his tweets were private, they had been posted three years ago and he ‘deserved to be treated sympathetically’ due to his long-term loyalty to the company. However the disciplinary panel rejected his arguement and dismissed him. After a failed appeal, Mr Creighton then brought an employment tribunal claim for unfair dismissal.
The employment tribunal said that Mr Creighton’s dismissal was for a potentially fair reason related to his conduct and said that his employer was entitled to take action after discovering the tweets. Although the tweets had been posted three years ago, the ET stated that the age of them didn’t matter.
This is not the only example of social media misconduct leading to a fair dismissal. In the case of Teggart v TeleTech UK, a Northern Ireland industrial tribunal said it was fair to dismiss an employee for offensive comments made about a work colleague on Facebook.
In a nutshell
As seen in the cases above, social media misconduct can be sufficient evidence for a fair dismissal of an employee. The employment tribunal has made several decisions in recent claims that relate to an employee’s derogatory comments made online and have ruled that the employer’s dismissal decisions are reasonable and fair.
For more information, visit http://79.170.40.162/enlightenhr.com or contact Alison Benney:
alison@enlightenhr.com
Tel: 01803 469466
